South Asia

South Asia stretches from the mountains of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan to the plains and cities of India and Bangladesh, and across the waters to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

It is a region of extraordinary diversity—home to hundreds of languages, many faiths and traditions, ancient histories, bustling modern cities, remote villages, soaring mountains, fertile river valleys, tropical forests, and island shores.

There is no single South Asian childhood.

The girls growing up here may speak different languages, practice different traditions, eat different foods, and experience worlds that can look completely different from one another—even within the same country.

Girls Wear Crowns celebrates those differences while looking for the childhood that connects them.

These girls are thinkers and athletes, musicians and mischief-makers, artists and future engineers. They study, play, argue with their siblings, care for animals, laugh with friends, ask impossible questions, and imagine futures that belong entirely to them.

Some grow up amid tremendous opportunity. Others face barriers no child should have to overcome. But none should be defined solely by the challenges surrounding her.

Each portrait tells an original story inspired by the extraordinary diversity of South Asia—not intended to represent any one culture, community, or lived experience.

Because before the world tells a girl where she comes from—

she is already busy deciding where she wants to go.